Red Tape

Jemuel had been retired two years when he finally received his SSS pension. Before then, he was told to retrieve all documents from his past office, which had already closed shop. He was also told to produce affidavits to prove that the person Jemuel M. Vargas was the same as Jemuel Vargas. 

At the SSS office, he begged to see the person in charge of records, but was told that he had to make an appointment. It would have been so easy to explain how, somewhere along the way, the office he was working for had dropped his middle name from some documents. 

Meanwhile, Jemuel’s health was deteriorating and he could hardly commute from one place to another for all the SSS requirements. 

Red tape. 

We are all familiar with how it stretches to years what otherwise could be done in days. 

Contrast this with the way the Lord made Himself so accessible. He even provided us a number of ways to reach Him: praying with our voice, our thoughts, and our pens. We can also listen to Him anytime by reading His Word.  

At any moment we can talk to the Creator of the universe! Not only are we welcomed into His presence, we are also invited, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." (Hebrews 4:16 NLT).

“Let us come boldly.” No ID card, no password, no waiting time, and no appointment necessary to reach our heavenly Father. 

No red tape.     

In fact, we are told, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need . . . Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand . . .” ( Philippians 4:6-7) 

Grace is more accessible than anything we can think of.     

Finest Art in Flight

Every morning, since the pandemic began, Tony and I would spend our time savoring grace on the terrace: read the day’s newspapers and solve their crossword puzzles; read books; discuss about or argue over politics; catnap; review old photo albums; watch Mother Teresa water our garden; and enjoy the sight and sound of many birds. 

These flying marvels come and visit because our house is surrounded with trees. They sway with the branches and chirp our virus fears away. Some hover comfortably above us. 

Perhaps because of the summer heat, we see various migratory birds from cold places. 

“Look! That bird looks unusual,” Tony said one morning, pointing to a stunning work of art in flight, not much bigger than his thumb but with a tail three times its body size! 

I clicked my phone camera and tried to research online what it might be called. 

I had read up on birds before and in fact blogged about their colors, but I could not find the same exact bird in my camera. So I typed "rare birds" and eureka! I found tons of other unusual birds, which took my breath away!  

Sometime ago I also oohed and aahed over rare flowers and blogged about them. It was an underwhelming post, if one were to imagine all of the flowers that God has created. 

Now comes another word-deficient post—on rare birds. Of the over 100 rare birds (from different places in the world) I pored over, I am sharing photos of only 12 for lack of space. 

Each of these birds is a perfect example of the finest of fine arts in flight. Their beauty is indescribable and the reason for their creation is unexplained. 

We can only take a hint (our wisdom for understanding is finite) from Scripture:  

“Then God said . . . ‘Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.’ So God created . . . every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1:20-23 NLT) 

Do you know of a bird photographer who has taken the photos of all birds of every kind?   

Tools, Not Schools

Many people today (and that includes me) rely on the Internet too much that we take what we read as gospel truth—and so they become schools, institutions for education. 

Google is now also a verb—a useful action word when we want quick answers to our questions. Professors scratch their heads (or bang them on the wall?) when they read student papers with cyber info put together, minus critical thinking. 

And today, the chatbot is all the rage. All one has to do is ask a question and voila, the answer comes! 

Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant are now members of many households. Then just recently, ChatGPT was launched to answer questions of practically anything on many areas of endeavor.  

The sad truth is, Internet data and information are simply tools. We still need to sift, analyze, and re-check them before we come into conclusions. 

I tried chatGPT to test how accurate it is. I used myself as guinea pig because only I know all facts about me. All the areas underlined in red are either wrong or no data.   

In sum, this chatbot does not really collate all Internet data—not about me anyway. It gives erroneous information that could mislead all readers, except me.  

My advice to students and to everyone, including me, is: let us look at information from the Net, no matter how advanced the creators claim it is, as simply TOOLS. They are not substitute for SCHOOLS. 

Critical thinking is key to learning. We need to listen to our professors or our bosses, or those who have the original, authentic wisdom and knowledge that the Internet appropriates for popularity, and eventually for money. 

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." (James 1:5 NLT)

Day of Forests

Today, 21 March, has been declared by the UN Forest and Agriculture Organization as International Day of Forests. We celebrate the ways in which forests and trees sustain and protect us. 

Sustain and protect . . . how? 

“They purify the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, prevent erosion, and act as an important buffer against climate change. Forests offer a home to much of the world's diverse array of plants and animals and provide essential natural resources from timber and food to medicinal plants.” (World Wildlife Fund Inc.) 

Together, we must guard against any form of deforestation. We need to tend and watch over God's creation.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Waren Brasse

March 17: Green Day Memories

As a part-time girl Friday, I had to finish my errands before rushing to my classes at the Chicago Art Institute. I took my job seriously because it earned me some money to augment my meager allowance. 

“Hey, Grace, come! This won’t take a few minutes!” my big, burly boss called. When he as much as whimpered, I moved. He and the rest of the staff were looking down from our 17th floor window. 

“Aaahhh!” Ooohhh!” 

The Chicago river turned green! I pinched myself, trying to wake me up from fantasy land. But the green river was real! It was March 17 (never mind the year), St. Patrick’s Day. On this day, everything turned green—not with envy, but with a celebration only the Irish can pull off. 

St. Patrick’s Day originally started as a Christian feast day celebrating the life of this important man for spreading Christianity in Ireland in the late 5th century. But the day has mutated into a time of revelry and a celebration of all things Irish. Many people wear green, wear lucky charms like the four-leaf clover, and drink green beer. 

Why green? In 1798, the year of the Irish Rebellion, this color became officially associated with the day when they sang the song “The Wearing of the Green,” tying the color’s relevance to Irish history.

I remember that Chicago green day today and thank the Lord for those grace experiences that livened up my busy, struggling student days.     

Let me leave you, my cyber friends, with my favorite Irish blessing as we yelp, TGIF! 

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

International Women's Day 2023

In Scripture, when God created man, He did not create a person with no gender. He made a distinction: man and woman. 

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 

And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."  (Genesis 2:21-23 KJV) 

Since 1908, women have been demanding for better conditions in workplaces. Two years later, Clara Zetkin, leader of the “women's office” for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed in a conference the celebration every year of an International Women's Day—to press for demands.

And so on March 8 this year, we again celebrated this special day. 

While I agree that women have less say in all aspects of politics and the economy, I celebrate the day not to push for reforms but to thank the Lord for creating women. We have been given roles to play, as outlined in the Bible.     

This year, I am grateful to the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) for featuring women writers, whose books they carry, in an exhibit. 

The books I write are of grace; by grace, at the NLP, more readers will find them and be reminded of their own gifts of grace.  

Testy and Cranky

Many young people perceive seniors to be testy and cranky. 

“I have a right to be!” exclaimed Mr. Ogaras. “I have paid my dues. I don’t owe anybody anything anymore.” 

Well, older adults get crotchety not because they think they are entitled to it, but because, according to Ali, a psychologist, “Seniors know their longevity is running out. They no longer earn as much as they did, yet their medical needs cost more than their Social Security pension. Then there are the physical discomforts—aches, pains, constipation, rheumatism, etc.—that come with the decay of the human body.” 

“May I add,” said a friend in her 70s, “Adult children who use Mom and Dad for babysitting or being there when needed, take some spark out of us. Of course, I enjoy this new role, but since we are just their hands and no longer in control, we feel helpless sometimes.”  

“As they say, ‘He who has the gold makes the rules,’” sneered Mr. Ogaras.  

“That’s where the testiness and crankiness come in,” Ali said, laughing. 

Many of us seniors may plead guilty to these bouts of bad behavior, which cause misery to the people at the receiving end. Being pleasant, then, is the route to go—a deliberate daily endeavor.  

How? 

Scripture can help us. It details a virtue that corrects unpleasantness: gentleness. It is the quality of being kind, mild-mannered, and gracious. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2 NLT)

Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  

Gentleness towards others is a struggle. Oh, how we need gobs of grace do it—every single day!  

When a Good Deed Goes Bad

It was a perfect day to celebrate the almost-end of the pandemic. As we no longer hear of hospitals being overcrowded with people sick with Covid-19, I declared myself safe to go out. 

A friend, who just arrived from her US vacation, and whom I have not seen for three years, called and declared, “Let’s have coffee and catch up!” 

“Let’s!” 

We met in a coffee shop and chatted till our voices turned hoarse. We each rode a tricycle (also my first in three years!) to go home. 

“How much is the fare now?” I asked the driver. 

“Fifty pesos,” he said quickly. 

Euphoric over my rare day out, I gave him P100 and told him to keep the change. “From Leni,” I joked.

He froze for a few seconds then thawed. Behind his mask I could “see” a big smile. He exclaimed over a dozen “thank yous.” 'Twas a good deed to punctuate my rare day out.  

Teresa met me by the door and said, “Isn't it shocking that the tricycle fare jumped from 25 pesos then to 39 now?"  

“What?! But the driver charged me 50!” 

“Haha,” she laughed, “you were duped!” 

I suddenly remembered the sardonic phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  Acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them. 

Are random acts of kindness a thing of the past? I thought, as the tricycle driver morphed into an enemy in my mind.  

Feeling distraught, I recalled my go-to grace verse found in Luke 6:27 (ESV), “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.”

Call me naive, but I can’t allow one bad tricycle driver to stop me from doing a kind deed. 

If It Ain’t Broke

There is an an unwritten agreement in advertising: if the ad is still working well, don’t touch it because the change can be risky—it will either succeed or fail. 

Eventually, however, because of changing consumer behavior and trends, the ad has to be replaced.  

In sum, nothing on earth stays the same. Even if things are working well today, they can bog down tomorrow. 

After the rain, streets get flooded; after an earthquake, a mountain could disappear; after a volcanic eruption, a whole village could be buried; after a fire, structures and even people turn to ashes.  

The same is true with man and all living things. 

We are born, we grow up, we grow old, then we die. In life, our hair falls off, our bones atrophy, our muscles weaken, our skin wrinkles, our mind dulls, etc. Science has come up with theories about matters of consequence, only to be debunked by new discoveries. 

There is only One that never, ever changes—our Creator and everything about Him: His Word, His blessings, His authority, His plans, and His love for us.     

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 NLT) 

“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)  

“. . . the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken." (Psalm 33:11)

“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” (Matthew 24:35)  

If it ain’t broke . . . “’For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,’ says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:10) 

Join me in a prayer of thanksgiving: For manifesting faithful love and abundant grace in the dark and bright phases of my life, thank You, Lord. Amen.

Photo credit